MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/25 Marmol has work to do

Carlos Marmol will not be asked to close Sunday’s series finale against the Cardinals. The Cubs right-hander, who threw 30 pitches Saturday, needs a day to regroup. Marmol blew his Major League-leading 10th save on Saturday in the Cubs’ 2-1 loss to the Cardinals. He now has a 5.79 ERA against St. Louis this season, and a 5.72 ERA against National League Central teams.

“Injuries happen and the struggles we had in the four, five spot I understand,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. “‘Marm’s’ struggles have been more than I thought they would be. The main thing is to find a way to get him back on track. Here we are at the end of the season and have a long winter to find that out.”

Marmol walked three batters in the ninth on Saturday, the third time this season he’s done that.

“It’s all about command and yesterday he didn’t have command of either pitch,” Quade said. “I find it amazing he was one pitch away from getting out of it.”

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.